Search for Wise Wolf: Ráðúlfr

By James Hendershot

Another adventure of the ancient progenitors, as an altered destiny forces the love of her people to discover a method to keep the distant future on track. Yakov's family undergoes tremendous hardship, which propels them into an unknown land with an unusual mission. Damijana, the angel who warns of death convinces this young warrior to face his greatest fears and to search for this hidden truth. Yakov finds himself as a prisoner in a land that his father was taking them to begin a new life, one much better than the pain of hate as his family once lived. He leaps in faith with two mothers who suffered the deaths of their family members as they travel during the dark days to find the light that the Gerben long to serve. They withstand the disappointment of finding the chosen one is a member of a pack of wolves living as a beast in the wild. A strange bond grows as their love creates new hope in their combined future. Wise Wolf releases herself to the hidden wisdom locked in her soul, as they travel the seas and mountains to her former kingdom. Yakov loses his most prized possession, the one whom, he promised to spend the remainder of his days. He gave up all so that all could have their Queen, nevertheless, this Queen will not allow him to make this sacrifice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Apr 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490733050

James Hendershot

James Hendershot, D.D., was born in Marietta, Ohio, and finally settled in Caldwell, Ohio, where he eventually graduated from high school. After graduating, he served four years in the Air Force and graduated magna cum laude with three majors from the prestigious Marietta College. He then served until retirement in the US Army, during which time he earned his master’s of science degree from Central Michigan University in public administration and his third degree in computer programming from Central Texas College. His final degree was the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Kingsway Bible College, which provided him with keen insight into the divine nature of man. After retiring from the US Army, he accepted a visiting professor position with Korea University in Seoul, South Korea.

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© Copyright 2014 James Hendershot .

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ISBN: 978-1-4907-3306-7 (sc)

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CONTENTS

Chapter 01 The Exodus From Petenka

Chapter 02 Journey To The Lake On Top Of The World

Chapter 03 Journey To The Other Side

Chapter 04 Mommy, Please Wake Up

Chapter 05 Trouble With Women

Chapter 06 Hurting, Healing, And The Bezdroża

Chapter 07 Good-Bye Father, Hello Mother

Chapter 08 The Land Of The Gerben

Chapter 09 Staging For The Search

Chapter 10 Discovering Wise Wolf

Chapter 11 Return To Olimpia

M a p s I n d e x

The Adventures In This Series

Author Bio

Dedicated to

Dedicated to my wife Younghee, with special thanks, and to my sons, Josh and John and daughters, Nellie and Mia and publishing services associate Evan Villadores (not pictured), and book consultant Tanya Mendoza (not pictured). In memory of my departed Trafford inspirations Stacy Canon and Love Blake as their portraits, hang on the wall behind me.

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CHAPTER 01

The Exodus from Petenka

Names can disguise themselves as such a strange prodigy. Everyone has one, which others decided all calls us. Somehow, I learned to accept this phrase and act in response. Those, who allege to comprehend all things, claiming that our names decide our destinies; nevertheless, I realize that there are those who walk among us who share the equivalent names as those who no longer walk with us. Their same names did not benefit those who sleep in the dirt. The name whom my brothers and sisters call me is Yakov. Our father is a member of the hunting group that feeds our clan. We seldom see him. The longest that he stays with us is when they must bury those who died while hunting with the group. They replace those lost with the strongest young men. Our people could not live without the food they bring back for us. Those same people consider the hunters as foolish, as the hunters kill so they may live. I remember this as among my first memories, although I never saw or understood it, my older brother Kaus and oldest sister Olimpia would always complain about how the clan treated our family. The remainder of my siblings and I would sit and listen to them explain all the problems in our lives. Olimpia would sometimes tell us stories about our mother before she became sick. Olimpia swore that our mother, Perla was much more beautiful than she is. We agreed that our three sisters possess a beauty that no other women in our clan enjoy. Olimpia is our mother. She works in our home each day tending for her brothers and sisters whom, she cares as her own. She is a few years older than we are and therefore, except for Kaus, she witnessed each of us being born, and the pain that she suffered bringing each into her home.

Olimpia promised our mother as she was dying that her babies would be her babies. Olimpia took this as the purpose in her life. She has made our life so rich in that we are all still together. This is what we crave as much as she wants. I see my brothers obey her without challenge, so I also obey her, as do our sisters. She spends much time with Pava considering she was the last life to come from our mother. Olimpia tells us that this makes her so special. The important thing that I appreciate is that when I hurt, Olimpia can make the pain leave, when I am hungry, she always puts food before us, we never feel cold, as she makes us warm. If a mommy is supposed to do those things, then she is our mommy. I grasp one of the features we love about her is that she knows how to create fun. Even when it rains, she can make getting wet enjoyable. When darkness arrives, she floods the black emptiness with fun in the light. I feverishly believed during my early days that she was a magic woman. Later, I discovered that she was every inch an enchanting woman. Her magic kept the spirit and blanket of love rolling within our home. Many of my friends also verified with me, my early robust years of bouncing off everything and crying throughout the nights are only a distant vague memory. Olimpia tells me I had many friends at once. This was the age we could merely crawl, and could not talk. I remember things differently, somewhat dismal, and a few times rewarding. I loved my daddy and when he could spend a few days with us, he would play from early morning to late night. He was swifter than the fastest animal that I knew, and he was a tricky person. He would mislead us into running one way, and we wait for us as we zoomed into his arms. I reminisce that sometimes when we played; some other children would call him names. These were not kind names, yet he would ignore them. I kept an eye on who they were. After daddy left, these creeps became bolder and starting calling me those names. One day, I asked Answald if he taught me ways to fight. He knew of many ways from daddy, as he would always toughen him and Kaus up to defend us.

My day came one day when I had a wonderful club in my hand. I was going to use it to get some nuts from a nearby tree. The three of them surrounded me, and one of them knocked me to the ground. As I fell downward, I knocked down an old woman. I told her I was sorry, and she told me it was all right, since it was not my fault. This made me angry, and I came up with my club and hit the first one in his head. When I saw the blood come from his head and the shock in the other boys’ eyes and new sense of confidence and urgency overtook me. I instantaneously hit the other two, both in the front of their heads and down. They went crying. The old woman immediately rushed to my side and ushered me into her house. The three creeps, who so boldly called me names, who were going to teach me a lesson, now ran to their mommy’s crying about their unfair attack. I returned to my house and soon thereafter; a large group of villagers was beating on our door demanding that our family give me to them. Kaus refused as he and Panfilo rushed outside with arrows, threatening that if any remained on our property, he would kill them. The people refused, and Kaus shot one man in his arm. All the fierce members of this killing band immediately ran from our yard. They are such bigots and hypocrites. They are willing to dish this out, yet possess no ability to withstand some heat. Soon a group of the villager defenders came with the village’s leader and told Olimpia that Kaus and I had to go with them for a trial. He assured her that they would treat us equally, and no harm would come to them if they were innocent. Olimpia had no choice but to agree. The villager’s leader took us with him and told the protectors to guard us. I told them not to worry; that they were all cowards. The villager’s leader was a good friend of our father, and he agreed with me. He also recommended that I do not voice my opinions, so freely until we solved this situation. The villagers screamed names and threats at us. Our leader stopped and warned them that he had to power to ban from our clan any who interfered with this justice. They soon regained their cowardly composure. We subsequently felt a soft shower begin lightly to soak us. My father’s friend told me that these were the heavens crying because of the evil in this village. Kaus was the first they brought before the judges.

The people claimed that they were simply asking, exceptionally politely, that I go with them to the village leader. The village leader called two of the neighbors and asked them what they saw or heard. They told him the people were a raging mob, and that they had their arrows pulled, ready to also kill. The village leader ordered that all in the mob spend three days tied to the village’s trees. Within an instant, the mob vanished. The leader sent his escorts to round them up and bring them back and to beat them if they resisted. The first couple resisted. They beat them in public. His escorts next called throughout the village for all those in the mob to come now, and serve their three days. Those who did not come must serve ten days, and then be beaten. About three out of four came voluntarily. At the end of the third day, the leader told them that unless all punished who was part of the mob. He would keep all until all received their just punishment. Names came flying out immediately, as the escorts rounded them up, beat them with twenty lashes, and tied them to trees. Once evidently no others in the mob had escaped justice, they released the original three-day prisoners. Many asked him why he was so hard on these people, and he told them that when you make the gods cry because of your evil, they must see the punishment, or we will die. He allowed me to go back to my home. The parents of the other three boys brought them before him to issue the charges. He warned the parents that if any, provided evidence these charges were false that he would hang the three boys in public. They still had time to speak to their sons and make sure they were telling the truth. The three boys swore that they were playing privately and that I rushed on them and began beating them. When the day of the trial came, Olimpia brought me to the hearing. The village leader told our family that he trusted us and would only intervene if any were to harm us. He told Olimpia that her brother would be with her that night. Each of the boys came forward and told so many lies I could not believe what I was hearing. As they would continue to testify, the villagers then sprang up and yelled to the village leader, How can you hide this brutality?

He sat there calmly, asked each boy three times, if he had been calling me names, and had pushed me to the ground. They each denied this, and all three sat down beside their parents. I could feel my heart beating so hard and sweat dripping from my head. Some of the villagers currently yelled to me, Your evil will be punished, you little heathen. The village leader now called forward the old woman who had taken me into her house, with the group of women who were visiting her that day. The five women testified that they heard the boys call me names and threaten to beat the life out of me. They all witnessed as with the woman whom, I fell into the boys pushed me into her knocking her to the ground. These six women were the spiritual leaders of our village, and no one would dare to accuse them of lying for fear of their lives. When the second one was testifying, all those present left as I could hear them say, The little boy was telling the truth, and the other three boys must now die for their lies. The reason they had to die was a rule in our village that if you falsely accuse someone of an offense in which death is the punishment, you must die as your punishment. When the third older spiritual leader finished testifying, the three mothers began crying and hitting their sons cursing them for lying. The village leader asked for some of his escorts to take these mothers to their homes and care for them until their mates arrived home. After the fourth woman testified, the fathers asked the trial end, and the punishment begins. The village leader told the fathers, We must live with this day for the remainder of our lives so if there is any chance of saving your sons, we must endure until the end. The entire village was silent, presently, as everyone knew the sounds that would soon echo throughout our little piece of this giant land. The fifth woman and sixth woman testified. The leader called the father and boys to stand before him. As they stood before him, a cool breeze began to blow pass them. The leader said to the boys, Today, you are lucky, for the winds are here to carry you into the dark land of the spirits.

One father asked how he knew they would go to the black lands. He told them that something bad would happen when the six spiritual women who represent the ghosts accuse you. You would go to the dark land. He next had his escorts give each father a rope and told them which tree to hang their sons. I watched while this unfolded and felt sad inside that I was rejoicing in their deaths. I watch each as their father put the rope around their neck and pulled them into the air from a branch on their tree. They gagged, and their legs and arms moved totally out of control. The last act is when an escort runs a long knife deep into them to ensure they are indeed dead. They did not move anymore. This was my first introduction to people dying, and even though they had been foolish enough, not to remember the old woman that I knocked down, that could fearfully been me on that rope. The fathers looked at me with hate in their eyes. The village leader then ordered that they give each father fifteen lashes. He next told them, These are for you being failures as fathers. If I ever hear of any act against this innocent boy, I will ban you from this village for the remainder of your lives and give your wives to new men. I walked home now with Olimpia, who was also acting uneasy. We knew the evil and hatred in this village would find a way to resurface once more someday. Olimpia told me that neither our sisters, nor I would ever play outside our yard another time. They would build a fence around our home. Olimpia was special in that she took us with her every time she went into the neighboring forests and would find places for us to play while she gathered our food. Afterwards, she would return and then play with us. I remember her telling us that no one was going to chastise her little people for the deeds of bad people. The six elderly spiritual women would stop by, and take us playing or bring special food for us. They watched our house and anytime someone would start to poke around our home would walk out and warn them. During the weekly village spiritual meetings, which we no longer attended, they would announce the names of those who they felt were evil, who would be those who snooped around our home. Soon, everyone stayed away from our home. The women had our street closed and their young men in the village to build a large fence that surrounds both of our homes. Olimpia told us we were in the safest hands that we could be. Kaus began to complain that we were prisoners, because some dead bad boys. Many secretly held these black-hearted boys to be heroes.

The reason they held this secretly was the spiritual mothers had been the accusers, and if they made them angry, they were in danger of the spirits punishing them. Olimpia knew that we had to find somewhere new to live, yet she did not recognize where. The other main thing that was saving us was the village leader who loved us. If anything ever happened to him, we could face our inquisition. I remember the fear that flooded our young family. We were afraid of what we did not comprehend could happen. This was enough to take our happiness, from us. Olimpia and Kaus would kill anyone or thing that would try to kill their little people. They would not even trust the meat from the village, in that someone could easily poison it and thereby kill us without anyone discovering them. Our firsthand bonding with the six elder women dampened our paranoia some. The woman, who I fell on, was their leader. Her name was Guðfriðr, and we could all sense that she loved us fantastically much. One night a band of men from the village came once again to tear down the fence that surrounded their home. They volunteered to barricade in our home. Guðfriðr refused and put a curse on all who touched her enclosure. They reluctantly, left. Another night, while we were sleeping, we heard some screams coming from their house. Kaus and Answald grabbed their spears and ran to Guðfriðr’s house. Two men entered the home to kill the old women. One woman was already dying as they entered. Kaus speared one while Answald speared the other. As they fell, Olimpia stabbed them with her knife. Guðfriðr asked for Answald’s spear and told us to leave immediately and not to leave our home until morning. When the villagers came to investigate, they found the two dead men with the one dead spiritual woman. The four other women had bloody knives in their hands and escorted the village leader in the home so his assistants could remove the bodies. The next day, the women called a spiritual meeting in which they told the villagers that until they removed all this evil, the incorporeal mothers would no longer leave their small fortress. This resulted in an even deeper bonding as they would invite some or all our family to sleep over or eat with them.

They adopted Olimpia, as she became the only person in our village that they taught the mysteries of the roots and herbs. At first, Olimpia argued against this in that we now openly confess that she must take our family and leave. The spiritual mothers told her that they knew this, and that is why it was so important that she learn these great secrets. They took her down into their secret underworld. They had built their home over a cave opening that led into a series of small underground tunnels. Here the women would perform their rituals to the spirits and produce their magical roots and herbs that could heal many things and produce a mental state that could see into the world of the spirits. We avoided these roots, as the spiritual mothers told us to venture into the nonmaterial world without proper knowledge could be deadly. For two circles of the Cegi Moon, we only saw Olimpia when she came up to bathe. The ‘we’ were Acia and Pava of course. I stayed out of her sight, in case she found dirt on me, as she constantly found dirt on Acia and Pava. They did not care, as they wanted to be as beautiful as Olimpia, and she told them they could only be like her if she invariably cleaned their dirt from their skin. They fell for it, and I did not want to tell them differently, if it would make Olimpia angry with me. When Olimpia returned to be with us, we could see that she was different now. She had a stronger stare in her eyes, a glare of greater confidence and understanding of the world around us. Our master spent much of her first week back spoiling us. She hugged us constantly and slobbered all over our faces crying how much she loved her little people. Guðfriðr complimented her on this love and gave her a blessing that someday she would enjoy a pleasant family and new children. I heard Guðfriðr telling the other spiritual mothers that it was accordingly rare to find a woman; consequently, young being so devoted to her family. The mothers told Guðfriðr that if they had such beautiful little people to care for, they would also be as excited. I now felt obligated to feel thus, well. Another bad man, one of the three boy’s fathers, came one night to exact his revenge on us. Guðfriðr threw one of her magical powders into his eyes that caused him to become blind and in great pain. She next slung her large cutting blade into his left leg chopping it off. One of the women rushed to bring the village leader, Cobus, and his escorts.

He took the man in the middle of the village, tied him to a pole, and had him burned to death. He did not speak throughout this process, being so angry at the continued foolishness of his people. At the end of the burning he asked, Who will I burn next? Actually, no one complained about this burning, as this is clearly a death offense to enter the spiritual mother’s home without a legal reason. Many of the people were also sharing their leader’s fear the spirits could turn against us. They strove so hard to rebuild confidence in Guðfriðr to return with her teachings and blessings and now this happened. This was not good. Cobus complained to the people that Guðfriðr had to carry defensive herbs in her pockets and not healing herbs. Bad times were ahead without any doubt. It was for me, good times, because these older mothers knew exactly how to feed little people. They even gave us a few treats, which they told us not to inform Olimpia. These special foods tasted so good we promised not to reveal this to Olimpia, who discovered it when she was cleaning our teeth that night. She essentially began to laugh about it. We wanted to understand why she was laughing. She explained the spiritual mothers were recognizing her powers as a mother for us, and that made her feel pleasant. Acia told me later that night that it was excellent when we get to eat a treat and Olimpia is happy because of it. I agreed with her. Olimpia told Guðfriðr and the other spiritual mother’s one morning that we would soon must depart to see our father and asked them if they watched our home. They agreed to do so, and when we left the next morning, Guðfriðr gave each of us some food and special roots and cried as we left our small fortress. We ensured that no one else know, so danger would not follow us. I kept a few other memories that stick out in my mind as that day did. It just felt so wonderful, and I would now see what I believed to be the greatest site on our world.

This greatest spectacle was when I first saw the Lake on the Top of the World. This summer, which was a bit hotter and dryer, then most, my sister took all of us to the skinny peninsula where we would meet our father. This finger of land had tall, thin evergreens on its most extended part, into the beautiful many shades of blue covering the surface of this Lake. Olimpia spoke of how our mother told her that many times she would wait for our father on this rare cape. They had worked out a deal that he would always return this way, as the fishing was great, and they could add to the wide range of the wild game they had captured for our small village. The smallest game, they would kill and field clean. Many of the larger beasts, they would break one of their legs and lead them from rope back to our people. They secured the beasts, many by breaking another leg, which constructed it, to be dreadfully grueling for them to escape. The abundance of wolves that would patrol around our village also helped to keep these beasts beside the cut-dried grass, which our village fed them. We were people who would never waste anything. When we cleaned a large beast, anything that we did not eat, we gave to the wolves. We always worked truly hard to make sure no blood hit our soil inside where we resided. The old medicine men told us that if we spilled blood on the land the spirits of our nature would take that land from us. To solve this, all wildlife, except for fish, they cleaned outside our boundaries. The adults would build a small fire that would encircle them, clean the animal and exiting through a minuscule fire gateway that took them into our village. They would next place the meet inside our choking air building and ignite the bowl fires that would pack the building with choking smoke. This was so the meat would go into the world of the spirits. The spirits would enter because the dark smoke made in impossible for us to see and breathe. The spirits would next consecrate the meat and to show their blessing would paint the meat with the smoke to kill the little beasts who would give us plagues. They also put the lifesaving-bleached sand on it. We had a large cave nearby where our young men would dig within and bring up this white sand. When they put it on our meat, it would remain edible much longer. The sad side effect of this is that it made them less dependable on the hunters and therefore, allowed them to downgrade them even more.

They are such absolute fools. They forced my father into being a hunter. They made him be a hunter because he was so strong. My mother and father had to marry in secret and live in the wild lands. When she died, which was their fault, as she was giving birth to Pava, the village finally took us to exist with them. We hope that someday he will take us away with him, and the hunters will stop hunting, wait until they starve to death, and then come back to the village. This is our private hope as we smile at them in public, yet once inside our home, we curse them. Today we will be going through our mountains to the Lake on top of the world. Olimpia tells us it will only take three days, so we are excited. I am excited because Kaus tells me we will enjoy so much fun. I was, consequently, wonderful walking through the woods, as the branches snapped under our feet and the birds left the safety of their trees in roving flocks. I hear the wind blowing through the top of the trees, yet I cannot feel any wind where we walk, while we stay under the trees. We try to walk quietly, yet are not as successful as we should be. Kaus tells me that sometimes, bad people hide in the forest. He shows me his large spear, and explains how he will fight to save us. Answald also has a smaller spear and approximately mimics Kaus. Panfilo has the mission of protecting our two of my other sisters, Acia and Pava and I. He could be overbearing at times, especially since he has to hit something before talking to us. This stressed us, at first; however, now we simply laugh at him, which makes him even angrier. When he throws his temper tantrum, Kaus or Olimpia will rush to and yell at him. We want to laugh; at the same time, we realize if we do laugh, after that they will stop yelling at him. Therefore, we held fast until they leave, later we make jokes about him. Either way, the calmness in this forest continues to overwhelm my senses, because so much life is around me, yet remains hidden. They are afraid of us, as I fear everything. I am fortunate that they do not understand this. We walk through the day as Kaus and Olimpia gather things from the trees and the ground. When the late afternoon arrives, they pick a campsite for us.

They appear to understand that Panfilo needs a time-out from us, as we need a break from him. They understand that Acia and Pava, with me need some playtime. They always tell me to take care of my sisters. My sisters continuously tell me what we are going to do. I head off in my direction and tell them to watch out for the snakes, bears, or sometimes dragons. Soon they are beside me asking if they can play with me. I tell them that I would feel so sad if they gave up what they wanted to do, just to be with me. They assure me that what they fancy is to play with me. We produce fun, as I always tailor our activities so it will be fun for likewise them. I do not want their evenings to be like our day under the tyrant Panfilo. After about one hour of excellent playing, Olimpia calls for us. She is constantly so happy to see the three of us returning. She regularly sits down as each of her sister’s land on one of her legs, and I stand in the middle while she hugs the three of us declaring her love and joy that we are still with her. She creates our feeling of her wanting us so much. I am just on that borderline that she can get me in with my sisters, as I like in addition them. The other brothers do not want to mess with the little kids. We help pull her up, as she at no time tries to appear perfect for us. She is not obligated to; because she cannot be once literary do wrong in our minds. When we get her upright, she guides us to our evening meal, which is consistently so amazing. The brothers unfailingly snap a few small animals on our hikes during the day. Olimpia grabs the special roots and fruits, and they make a little fire to cook it. After they cook our meat, roots, and vegetables, they immediately put out the fire. Daddy always taught us the smoke from the fires would tell the bad people where we were. He would not even allow a campfire, unless a moonless night, or while sleeping in caves. Anyway, we bundle together in our blankets that mommy and Olimpia made for our family and sleep in peace. Mornings can bring us back to reality, especially when we see a couple of snakes cooking on our morning fire. Kaus always tells us he got them beside our blankets, yet Olimpia hits him and orders him to stop scaring our little people. We do not recognize for sure who to believe, as we understand that Olimpia is overprotective and Kaus is more reality based; nonetheless, as our other brothers, do enjoy stretching the truth.

Either way, the snake does taste good, as we soon start the day number two of our walk. On this day, we will go down into some valleys and then start the steep journey to the top. The descending is easy and at the same time strange. The richness of the variety of trees heightens, as also do the actions of the wildlife, which survive within them. The wind begins to blow swifter and more destructive, as if angry for having to travel the lowlands. We seldom step on branches now, as the leaves from the previous, years’ cover this ground. This helps our feet land softly on the ground as we walk. It feels different, yet I would prefer the snapping branches up in the mountains. Olimpia tells us not to worry, as the mountains surround these valleys. We can tell by the hillsides that much water drains down, yet it only goes into little streams. Olimpia tells us daddy revealed to her the streams go into caves that flow out into many small streams to the west of our mountains. We see so many new species of animals and birds. I feel almost as if we are in another world. We stay close to the mountainside as we cross through this area. The people who live here do not like outsiders and will not bother us if we stay on the crossover path, which we will be on for a few short hours. We stop as we cross a medium-sized stream. Kaus wants to fish for a while. We join him, and soon he has about twenty fish, so we start to go up the cliff. Olimpia says there are some small plateaus that we can stop and eat our fish with a pleasant fire. We need not to worry about our security, as the lowland people will protect us. I asked her how they knew us. She explained, as she raised her eyebrows and released her heavenly smile on us, Little people, they saw how beautiful you are and therefore, would never want anything bad to happen to us. We do not understand if we should believe her; however, Kaus and even Panfilo, looks serious when she is talking, so she must be telling the truth. I tell my little sisters that we need to clean in the nearby stream, so they will not see us dirty and then decide to kill us. I rush to the stream, as Acia and Pava, both fighting to keep their breaths are right behind me. On returning, we sat down to eat our fresh cooked fish, now extraordinarily clean, as Olimpia rushes to us slobbering kisses all over us. We never did figure out why this excited her until later in our lives. Nevertheless, we so much enjoyed making her happy.

Thus, we would stand there while she slobbered over us and pretend as if it was okay. We had to listen carefully, as she would say she loves us, and we wanted to respond with our passion to the same degree as quickly to such an extent possible. We knew that she enjoyed this, as we could see our words going into her mind and then to her heart, giving her enormous satisfaction. Acia questioned me once if this was our magic, and I had to confess that I did not know. I told her while Olimpia still fancied this; we need to keep feeding it to her. Considering how much she did for us, it was a small price to pay. Acia and Pava listen to what I say, as I never would say anything to hurt them, and saying scaring things to keep them with me is not hurting them. We are the three ‘little people’ and as such, learned to stick together. Olimpia always brags that I am the big brother to the minute sisters. Acia and Pava tell her, He is our best older brother in the whole world. When the three of them put so much charm on a little boy like me, I simply become, mellow. I would become a perfect mommy’s boy, if I had a mommy. I understand this is also tough on Acia and Pava, so I do not mind having two extra friends. They are my allies in that if Panfilo becomes too overbearing, they will help me sick Olimpia or Kaus on them. Kaus also treats his little sisters as his special pint-sized loves, so they stand strong beside me in my defense on anything. If Kaus is yelling at me, they rush to my sides and start crying. I am amazed how this giant turns into a midget within seconds as Olimpia, who has a special ear for her little sisters always comes running. They tell her that Kaus is going to kill me. Kaus denies the charge and retreats as my sisters hug me and Olimpia tells me that no one will kill me. This is when I started to sense the special powers of women. I remember seeing them boss the men in our village. Nevertheless, I attributed this to these men being weak. We eat our fish quickly as Acia has a new plan for us now. We will get close to Olimpia and tell her we are scared of the cliffs that Panfilo will make us fall and die. Olimpia buys it, thanks to the tears that run down our cheeks. We can make these tears appear when we really want something. She tells us to stay with her.

We actually avoid all the cliffs, as for the steep ones she knows of a nearby cave. After we go through a few caves, she feels secure in that no one is following us. We make it back to the top late on the second day. The brothers quickly capture some game for us, and Olimpia scouts for her herbs, roots, and plants and wood for our fire. The brothers also bring some wood and fruit back with them. We do the important job, and that is to stay out of trouble. Olimpia tells us this is the most important job. We also help to unpack the blankets and cookware plus tiding up around our campsite. We, of course, must zip up a few trees to make sure we realize what is around us. We climbed saplings, without any hesitation our entire lives. Our village teaches all their children how to become one with the sky. We learn how to feel the tree and listen to what it has to say. Nature has a message for us, as it truly wants all who obeys its rules to enjoy life. One rule is always to be watching, as other parts of nature also want to survive. At all times, we can become a meal for another creature. There is always that quiet warning that we must hear. We eat our evening meal as Olimpia divides some of her root paste, she prepared for our sore feet. She rubs it into her ‘little peoples’ feet. Tonight she wants us to sing songs. We sing so many songs and laugh all the way through them as Olimpia and Kaus act foolish while singing them. They are accordingly amazingly funny. Acia tells Pava and me that when she gets older, she will not be so foolish over the loving boys’ junk. She only loves me. I confess to them that I love furthermore them. I then ask them, What is this thing called love? Acia tells us she does not know, except that love is a delightful thing to say to those who are your friends. Pava and I immediately declare our love for each other. Olimpia comes to take them with her, yet they now cry for me also, so she brings me into their special group. Olimpia tells me someday that all the girls will like me. I tell her I do not want that, I only want Acia and Pava. She tells me I can merely keep one, and I must pick just one. Acia and Pava start to cry. They are folding their hands over their hearts and gripping their feet into the ground.

The entire forest becomes quiet, as if the world wants to hear one cheer and the other to cry. I tell Olimpia, I will take my sisters and you if you wish, into a new land, and we will live by our laws that say I can keep my sisters. Acia and Pava cheer and tell Olimpia, We told you, he was the finest brother always. Olimpia replies, I will definitely want to live with the best brother, whoever was. I will cook and clean for you. I told her, You will only cook. I want you to rest for all the hard work you gave us. Your love will keep us happy. Tears start to run down her cheek as she begins slobbering on all our faces. Acia tells me not to get her so excited next time. I agree with her. Olimpia tells us one of her great nighttime stories. This story had a little girl who was unbelievably beautiful and when she became a woman, so many men wanted her to make babies for them. She wanted to stay with her parents and learn about the angels in the heavens. The men would ask the father if they could care for her. He told them no, she wanted to learn how to talk with the angels. One quiet summer night two men came and started a fire to burn down their house. They waited and waited for someone to come forward and revealed themselves. No one came out, so the men became afraid that they had murdered them and ran into the mountains to hide. While in the mountains, one fell over a cliff and broke his legs. As his friend ran down to get him, a large wild beast was eating him. When he saw the enraged beast, he ran away as fast to such an extent possible. Nevertheless, another beast saw him and chased him into a tree. He stayed in the tree for two weeks, while the beasts tried to shake the tree. Finally, some snakes that lived in the tree became angry that he was in their tree. They waited until night, went to him, and bit him, putting their poison deep inside him. When his dead body stiffened it fell to the ground, and the beasts ate him. Meanwhile, back at the old man’s house that had burned, they had been on another mountainside with their daughter who was looking forward to talking with some angels. They waited until deep into the night when they finally gave up and returned to see their home burned to the ground. The father told his daughter that even though they had not talked to an angel, an angel had saved them from this fire, and that it was time they moved to a new land where bad men would not chase her.

They went to a new land and lived happily ever after. We loved this story, although I became worried and asked her, How can I save my sisters from bad men. As my sisters are so beautiful and when they become women, shameless men will want you, and I want to keep my sisters just for me. Olimpia told me there are many good men, such as our daddy, and that when the respectable men come, and you approve of them. All your brothers and daddy will also be absurdly over concerned about this. Then our family will give our sisters into what we call marriage. Other families will give their daughters to our family so my